Centennial neighbors hope city OKs Townhomes project

Michael O. Hunt’s love of historic architecture led him to his antebellum house in Centennial Neighborhood and started a 21-year effort to transform the area from blight to a destination place.

A major part of that transformation will clear a major hurdle Thursday morning if the Lafayette Redevelopment Commission approves the Centennial Townhomes project, into which Hunt and nine other neighbors have invested time, money and effort.

“We will have a development agreement on our agenda,” Lafayette Economic Developer Dennis Carson said, explaining that John Tiebel, a local developer, has agreed to construct 14 two-story townhomes on the half block on Fifth Street between Brown and Cincinnati streets.

Each of the brick townhomes will be roughly 1,400 square feet and have two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Along the alley behind the townhomes, each residence will have a two-car garage, Carson said.

“It will look somewhat similar to the brownstones across the street, but probably more like those rowhouses that are to the south of the site,” Carson said. “They’ll fit the historic character of the neighborhood. They’ll have a brick exterior.”

The effort to redevelop the land gained traction in 2011 after the city joined the neighbors, Hunt said.

“There are three partners in this,” Carson said. “The (Lafayette) Redevelopment Commission, the Centennial Neighborhood Investment Group and the Lafayette Urban Enterprise Association.

“We paid $380,000 for the property. John is proposing to buy the property for $350,000. There’s a $30,000 gap there that we’re proposing to the commission that they absorb, and we pay back the Centennial Neighborhood Investment Group first, fully. Then the Urban Enterprise Association, then the last ... to be paid back is the Redevelopment Commission.”

If approved, the 10 Centennial neighbors who invested nearly $130,000 will get back their money. No interest. No profit. But Hunt said the return on the investment was never about the money. It was about the neighborhood — improving it, restoring it and returning the once neglected and avoided historic area to a destination point reflective of its roots.

Hunt and his wife moved into the neighborhood in winter 1993 and got busy restoring their antebellum house. Then they took a hard look around. A metal-building business was across the street. The place was not really a desirable neighborhood.

“Why would you want to live down here at the time, with a railroad track and a crappy neighborhood?” Hunt said. “If you’re interested in historic architecture, you take it where you find it.”

Others who shared Hunt’s love of historic architecture migrated to the neighborhood and began to lobby for redevelopment of blighted spots. It has been a successful venture.

The area was rezoned for owner-occupied homes and duplexes instead of of multifamily housings, Carson said. Then in 2000, the Brownstone Townhouse opened, as did the rowhouses, Carson said.

“It’s been a project that’s been in the works a very, very long time,” Carson said. “It’s been vision for the neighborhood.”

Neighbors reclaiming a long-neglected neighborhood, dragging it year after year away from its blighted past, is uncommon, Carson said.

“They have the very best interest in their own property and their neighborhood,” Carson said of the neighborhood association. “It makes a big difference to have the neighbors involved in it. They want to ensure a good outcome, and they want to ensure that it’s a lasting outcome.

“I think it’s fairly unusual. I have seen it before, but not very often. Not very often in Indiana.”